Old School Ancients - Battle in the Pass

I have a game in progress on table at the moment. A Greek Confederation army is attempting to force a pass through the mountains while a Spartan army rushes to stop them.

Here you can spot two large units of Spartan hoplites snaking towards the pass supported by some Macedonian cavalry and a unit of helots on the high ground above the pass. Contact so far has been between accompanying light units but nothing will stop their heavier comrades coming to blows.

The mountain road passes through a swampy area where there is little room for deployment.

A unit of Italian mercenaries armed with deadly Pila come thundering down the road and may cause an upset amongst the Spartans.

More Greek infantry await their chance just around the corner.

There are plenty of them.

These chaps will be unimpressed, 'We are Spartans', they shout.

This game will be continued at a later date. The figures are all old 25mm mostly from Minifigs, Garrison and Greenwood and Ball. The rules we used are Slim Mumfords Ancient rules dated 1972.

Now that's Old School.

Dark Future - Car Wars

I am about to pass on a whole collection of bits and pieces to an old friend who recently asked about them. They are a collection of rules and road sections, cars and bikes, and various figures that I acquired with a view to writing a better set of rules for Car Wars.

It never happened.

My old chum wants his bits back so I offered him all the other bits to save splitting the collection up.

Best of luck James.

I snapped two of vehicles which I thought looked quite the part. They are my own work, of course!

Reading Quandary - What do I read next.

I recently received Dux Britanniarum from the Two Fat Lardies stable.

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=21

I have skimmed through the rules a few times and have read some of the chapters to do with background and force creation. I am still painting figures, almost finished my Britons and am about to start on my Saxons. It will be a few weeks yet before I have to read these rules properly.

I have just finished a major skim through The Wargaming Compendium by Henry Hyde. A weighty tome indeed, 519 pages covering 11 chapters. I strained my wrists holding it upright as I tend to do most of my reading in bed late at night. The Compendium covers just about everything you need to know about wargaming even if you are a crusty old devil like me. A good bible for a youngster to follow.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wargaming-Compendium-Henry-Hyde/dp/184884221X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377350564&sr=8-1&keywords=wargames+compendium

I will certainly read and re-read many of the chapters in due course, especially the one on gladiator rules as I think they may have some mileage.

I have just started reading The Swordbearers by Correlli Barnett. This is a study of supreme command in the First World War and focuses on four commanders. Colonel-General von Moltke, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, General Philippe Petain and General Erich Ludendorff. The backpage claims that these characters span the war years although I fail to see why he couldn't include Field Marshal Douglas Haig!

This book can be picked up very cheaply on the internet.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swordbearers-Studies-Supreme-Command-First/dp/0413251403/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377350770&sr=1-4&keywords=the+swordbearers

Before I got as far as Chapter 2 in The Swordbearers two parcels dropped through my letterbox.

First of all was Chain of Command by the Two Fat Lardies. A long awaited publication which has caused quite a stir in certain circles. I can't wait to get started although I have pledged myself to get my Dux Britanniarum forces on the table first. They are a radically nice set of rules though!

http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=25

I need to check out my 20mm (1/72) World War Two collection or perhaps my 10mm collection. Both are suitable. I also think my chums have enough forces in 28mm and 15mm to get us going.

The second book was Second World War Infantry Tactics by Stephen Bull which tells me it will cover the infantry combat experiences of the British, German and American armies in Europe.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-World-War-Infantry-Tactics/dp/1848840705/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1377351959&sr=8-4&keywords=stephen+bull

So, therein lies my quandary. Do I finish reading The Swordbearers (I have started so I will finish) although I am only reading this until something better turns up. Or, do I start reading Infantry Tactics so that when I read Chain of Command I can perhaps understand better what Richard Clarke is trying to simulate (emulate). Then again I should maybe read Dux Britanniarum as this will be the next ruleset in use on my wargaming table but I will have to finish painting some figures first. Or, finally should I have a proper look at the gladiator rules in the Wargaming Compendium as I have gladiator figures already painted and ready to go.

I just don't know!

Dux Britanniarum - Plastic Cavalry - The Build

I need a few mounted figures for Dux Britanniarum, 4 Shock Cavalry and 4 Light Cavalry for the Britons and 4 Light Cavalry for the Saxons. In line with keeping the overall cost down I purchased a box of Wargames Factory Celtic Cavalry which conveniently comes with 12 horses.

The figures are multi-part hard plastic, the horses are in 2 halves with separate heads and can all be made unique by mixing left and right sides with any one of 4 different heads. The riders come in both armoured and unarmoured bodies, 12 of each, with lots of separate heads, separate right arms and a lot of weapons and shields.

Here are the 4 I chose for the British Light Cavalry.

The next 4 will be the British Shock Cavalry.

The final 4 will be the Saxon Light Cavalry.

I snapped each figure individually before I get around to the paint jobs.

 

As you can see there is a great variety of poses and finishes available in this boxed set. Closer inspection will reveal some mould lines yet to be cleaned and I will do that before I start the painting process.

I have textured the bases as I use the same undercoat colour for the figures and the bases and it also helps bind the filler together.

You can see the filler is quite grainy although it can be smoothed with a wet palette knife. I use this stuff below.

It dries overnight and is fairly tough, takes paint well and I use it for all my basing texture needs.

Fighting Fairytales

Interesting post on the BBC website today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-23630882

Page 3 in the Daily Record

Earlier this year I posted a report on meeting a very old friend while on vacation in the States.

http://jim-duncan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/meeting-old-friend.html

One of the things Ed brought up in conversation was along the line of 'do you remember doing...'

I certainly did remember and I said I wish I had a copy of the picture concerned. Ed said no problem, my mother has a copy somewhere.

Ed has sent me a scan. Thanks Ed!!

I'll let the picture speak for itself, please feel free to comment.

Dux Britanniarum - Britons - Work in Progress

I have already mentioned that I'm already working towards playing Dux Britanniarum but I still have some way to go. I have made some progress with my Romano-British force although I'm trying to make them more British than Romano.

I started with an eBay purchase of two boxes of Wargames Factory Saxons, retailing at around £14.50 a box although I got both boxes including postage for £27.40. A good start at keeping the overall cost down.

Yes, I know they are Saxon and also from a period later than that covered by Dux Britanniarum but they are available, cheap, and will do fine for me.

These boxes supplied 32 each of armoured and unarmoured Saxons with separate heads, arms, weapons and shields. For the Britons I needed 10 armoured figures and 48 unarmoured figures so I have a bit of adjustment to make. I might also need some mounted figures but I will tell you about them later.

To start I need to have a Lord, two lesser Nobles and a Champion. These are probably the best equipped guys in the force so they have chainmail armour, helmets, shields and swords. They are singly based on hexes as they need to move about the battlefield and join other groups when appropriate.

I also need 6 Elites who are the personal following of the Lord so are also armoured in chainmail, with helmets, shields and hand axes. There weren't enough round shields to supply all the figures I used so they got Norman looking tear shaped shields as they were included on the sprues. Not quite accurate for the period but I think I can get away with being a bit loose here. The whole project is designed to get up and running at minimal cost as you will see in due course. In any case I can always relegate these figures to Foederati (who are quite mercenary) if better figures come my way.

The next group are the Warriors, unarmoured but with helmet, shield and mixed weapons, largely spear although some with sword or axe. I need 12 of these and possible another 6 as re-inforcements so I made up a total of 18.  I didn't have enough unarmoured bodies to make all that I need so some of them are armoured bodies modified into unarmoured ones by some careful scraping with a hobby knife and several thin coats of polystyrene cement. They're not brilliant but they will do.

The last major group of figures needed are the Levy. 18 in total, unarmoured with bare heads, shields and spears. I found that when I was basing these figures that the supplied plastic spears were very fragile and snapped as soon as I looked at them. I replaced all the spears with ones I made from some wire I had lying around.

I also need a variety of light troops, archers, slingers and javelinmen, in groups of 4. The bows were supplied on the sprues but I had to scratch build the slings and the javelins were shorter versions of the wire spears I made earlier.

You can see that the movement sabot bases are in a variety of finished and unfinished states as are the figures themselves. This is a work in progress report.

The final group of figures that I may need as re-inforcements are cavalry. 4 Shock and 4 Light cavalry which I will get from this box of Celtic Cavalry purchased at Claymore. It contains 12 horses and 24 riders, half armoured and half unarmoured.

So, there you are, a British force, in the making for Dux Britanniarum.

Once these are complete and my chum hasn't finished his Saxons I'll get on with the Gripping Beast Saxons that I bought at Claymore last week.